Communication fraud is the theft of communication services (telephones, cell phones, computers etc.) or the use of communication services to commit other forms of fraud. Victims include consumers, businesses and communication service providers. There are several types of communications fraud including identity theft, internet fraud, telemarketing fraud, auction and retail schemes, and money offer scams, among others.
In identity theft, information specific to an individual is misused in order to convince others that the imposter is the individual, effectively passing one self off as someone else. In internet fraud, a scheme is implemented that uses one or more components of the internet—such as chat rooms, email, message boards, or web sites to present fraudulent solicitations to prospective victims, to conduct fraudulent transactions, or to transmit the proceeds of fraud to financial institutions or to others connected with the scheme.
Telemarketing fraud is any scheme used to defraud in which the persons carrying out the scheme use the telephone as their primary means of communicating with prospective victims by trying to persuade them to send money to the scheme. Auction and retail schemes typically attract consumers by purporting to offer high-valve merchandise ranging from expensive jewelry to computers to sport memorabilia at attractive prices. After persuading victims to send money in the form of a personal check, money order, or cashier's check, schemers either send an inferior item or nothing at all.
In money offer scams, potential victims receive, either through e-mail or fax, a request from a purported high ranking government official (with the title of Doctor, Chief, or General) seeking permission to transfer a large sum of money out of their country into the victim's bank account. ATM fraud schemes use a special information storage device to secretly copy the magnetic strip on the back of credit and debit cards during a normal transaction such as an ATM withdrawal or in-store purchase (this may be called skimming).
The advancement of technological tools such as computers, the internet, and cellular phones has made life easier and more convenient for most people in our society. However some individuals and groups have subverted these communication devices into tools to defraud numerous unsuspecting victims. It is not uncommon for a scam to originate in a city, country, state, or even a country different from that in which the victim resides. There are heretofore unaddressed needs with previous communication fraud prevention solutions.